I rarely fly anywhere unless I absolutely have to. I've flown a lot outside the country and no other country is anywhere near as bad as the US/TSA. No other country makes you take off your shoes.
I feel like early on, Americans fought hard against TSA security theatre and nothing changed and people kept flying, so it's just stayed pretty much the same.
It's gotten a little better. TSA agent can't harass people as much and have to be nicer since everyone is recording, but everything they do is still worthless. Millimetre wave machines are filled with so many false positives you should just have people roll a six-sided die.
I think it’s theatre too, but too many people are comforted by the theatre and believe that the more that there is, the safer that they’ll be.
Maybe there are other considerations?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_tran...
The table seems to agree with you, however the text below it doesn't (at least not entirely).
After trying to decipher how they keep switching units (kg/km per passenger vs kg/mile per passenger), it seems as if the text shows .18 for long flights, .35 for average cars, .08 for long distance busses, and .19 for long distance trains (all units I put here are kg of CO2 emissions per passenger per mile).
And that doesn't take into account manufacturing or the impact of roads, but I don't necessarily think that changes the discussion at all.
I'm also not sure if those numbers are average capacity or peak capacity (planes are very often mostly full in my experience, while trains are not, and busses even less so, but that's all based on my own memory).
So I'm leaving this discussion with more questions than I started with, but my first statement was absolutely wrong!
This is going to be very dependent on the route/times. I've flown transatlantic flights where I've had entire rows to myself (on multiple occasions). Trains are regularly running at capacity, especially on commuter lines.
It's annoyingly common, especially since I tend to wear boots, so it's a real hassle to take my boots off and then put them on again.
I've flow places with 4 laptops before, not because I think it's fun to inconvenience everyone in line, but because I needed them for where I was going.
If I was flying somewhere that I needed boots, I'd probably try to wear them to avoid having them pretty much take up most of my carry on space...
On the other hand, I don't really find it to be much of a bother. My boots stay on decently without tying the laces and I can usually do a proper lacing when I'm out of the way.
OTOH I've seen days where the precheck line was slower moving/longer if it's a time when lots of business travelers fly.
No offence, but that is simply not true.
At European airports one is not always, but regularly, asked to take off his shoes.
There is no reason why that should be required in order to fly without "harassment".
Can you explain why you think this way exactly? How does taking out your laptop and taking off your shoes count as harassment, exactly?
I submitted to a 10 minute in person appointment that included fingerprinting and answering questions about my criminal status (I'm not). That's it. It was super easy.
I have tsa pre-check, and I mostly enjoy it because travelers who have tsa precheck tend to pack efficiently and aren't surprised and hung up at various checkpoints during the security intake process. It's an added bonus that I don't have to take my laptop out or take my shoes off, but it's not that big of a deal.
I'm not a fan of the TSA but I have a hard time understanding why someone would be upset with the TSA precheck process.
Or are not eligible for any of the various 'pay more to be treated as a human' programs due to having the wrong citizenship (which is most citizenships).
Good luck out there! Glad you could save the 30 minutes, but I’d love a world where it wouldn’t require payment.
Usually I see it happening to those lucky ones carrying boots or shoes with thick sole.
But yet... the electorate still believes in the safety they create because no legislator that I’m aware of has even broached the topic. I hope to see candidates with some sane opinions on this soon.
It's just like there can be no legitimate safety guarantee that software companies are unhackable. But you can make it really, really hard. Of course the TSA doesn't make it that hard, and mostly wastes a ton of money on things with little value, but in theory there should be some amount of physical security to prevent people from hijacking what are essentially missiles containing 100s of regular people
Few argue there should be no security, but rather that a few simple changes, like hardening cockpit doors for the cockpit and a change to the hijacking policy (based as it was on the assumption that the hijackers wanted to live and, for example, go to Cuba), were enough "physical security to prevent people from hijacking what are essentially missiles."
How does yet more biometrics help? Is the cost justifiable?
We could have 5 security guards on every plane. That would surely help prevent people from 'hijacking what are essentially missiles', yes? But the costs aren't worth it. Eg:
"An assessment of the Federal Air Marshal Service suggests that the annual cost is $180 million per life saved. This is greatly in excess of the regulatory safety goal of $1-$10 million per life saved. As such, the air marshal program would seem to fail a cost-benefit analysis" - https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repositor...
The "illusion of safety" comes from putting policies into place which aren't justified by a reasonable cost-benefit analysis, but exist mostly for cover-your-ass reasoning.
There is a very famous website about making serious weapons (shivs, bombs, even a homemade “gun”) for under $100 using only items purchased at the news stands and gift shops found airside.
There never can or will be another 9/11 style attack, ever. Why? Because no one will ever give control of a plane over to an attacker, even if they have a knife / gun / bomb.
Attacker: “We have a bomb, let us into the cockpit or we will kill all 300 people on board”
Pilot: “...why, so you can fly the plane into a building and kill 1000 people? lol no, just detonate your bomb.”
That’s it, plane attacks like this are over. They ended on 9/12, forever.
Travel in general is protected, and in addition the 9th Amendment clearly states:
>The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
...ownership "does not always mean absolute dominion." The court pointed out that the more an owner opens his property up to the public in general, the more his rights are circumscribed by the statutory and constitutional rights of those who are invited in.
In its conclusion, the Court stated that it was essentially weighing the rights of property owners against the rights of citizens to enjoy freedom of press and religion. The Court noted that the rights of citizens under the Bill of Rights occupy a preferred position. Accordingly, the Court held that the property rights of a private entity are not sufficient to justify the restriction of a community of citizens' fundamental rights and liberties.
Incidentally, this judgment could be relevant to questions around freedom of speech on monopoly online platforms (e.g. google search, youtube, twitter & facebook): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_v._Alabama
However, the issue in this case is not restrictions imposed by property owners on the use of their own property, but rather restrictions imposed by the federal government, which is bound by the limitations on government power written into the Constitution.
If it were otherwise, then what's to keep from having a company city, or company state? Sell off Seattle to Bill Gates, and make it his fiefdom.
Sure it does. Entering someone's land when they've told you to stay out is known as "trespassing".
> If it were otherwise, then what's to keep from having a company city, or company state?
Assuming the land is legitimately homesteaded and purchased? Nothing. And there's nothing wrong with that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam
That points out that "Ancient traces provide evidence of the freedom to roam in many European countries, suggesting such a freedom was once a common norm."
It's also been noted that the freedom to roam is strongest in those areas which didn't have feudalism and serfdom.
Just like feudalism and serfdom, company towns have a history of being controlling and exploitative .. and un-democratic. That's what's wrong with them.
SFO is owned by the City and County of San Francisco. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_International_Ai...
LAX is owned by the City of Los Angeles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_International_Airp...
ORD is owned by the City of Chicago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Hare_International_Airport
The limits of the Constitution apply to government employees (or even private employees performing a service contracted by a government agency) whether they are on public or private property.
There also have been cases where the courts have treated private companies as state actors. See https://www.nyclu.org/en/publications/column-applying-consti...
If a private company is acting in ways normally prohibited to private actors, on the state's authority, then they are effectively acting as an extension of the state. The state obviously cannot grant a private company the authority to do something which both private actors and the state itself are prohibited from doing. However, it's still the government, not the private company, which is bound by the Constitution.
Quoting from the first paragraph of the ACLU link I gave: "With the notable exception of the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on slavery, the individual liberties guaranteed by the United States Constitution protect against actions by government officials but not against actions by private persons or entities."
Quoting from https://academic.udayton.edu/race/06hrights/GeoRegions/North... : "the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude encompasses both governmental and private action. Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20 (1883). The U.S. Supreme Court has held that Congress may regulate private conduct under sec. 2 of the Thirteenth Amendment, which provides that "Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968). Such power includes determining what constitutes the "badges and incidents of slavery and the authority to translate that determination into effective legislation."
Quoting from https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/encyclopedias-almanacs... : "The Thirteenth Amendment is one of the few constitutional provisions that directly implicates private conduct. That amendment, the first of the three "civil war amendments," flatly bans slavery and involuntary servitude. It acts directly upon private entities; slaves were owned by private businesses and individuals. The Thirteenth Amendment, however, has not been interpreted to provide a significant source of constitutional proscription against acts of private discrimination."
Quoting from http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/PROJECTS/FTRIALS/conlaw/thirtee... "The Thirteenth Amendment, unlike most provisions in the Constitution, is self-executing, in that it directly reaches-even without action by Congress- conduct by private individuals (slave holders)."
I suspect the convoluted arguments proposed for why the 13th Amendment must be unique are a direct consequence of the tortured logic needed to reconcile the institution of slavery with the principles on which the Constitution was based. Faced with a choice between acknowledging the government's role in legitimizing slavery or else arguing that it was merely a "private" matter which the government had thus far refrained from regulating they chose the narrative which minimized their share of the blame. This is akin to how the Interstate Commerce and General Welfare clauses have been perverted to justify all manner of legislation outside the narrowly defined scope of the federal government's enumerated powers.
You cannot pick and choose which principles you like. The Constitutional principles include the support of slavery. The Constitutional principles do not include universal suffrage. The Constitutional principles said nothing against expanding westward and stealing Native American lands. The Constitutional principles didn't prevent us from ruling the Philippines as a colonial power, or using government power to suppress labor rights.
To the contrary, I believe federal power was strengthened in part to be able to suppress the rights of the poor. The rebels of Shay's Rebellion fought against monetary policies and court practices which caused their lands and possessions to be confiscated. The elites and merchant class wanted to be able to call out federal troops should their own power be threatened.
What does "natural law" say about the right to confiscate land and possessions for failure to pay debts? For failure to pay taxes? What if those debts and taxes must be paid in hard currency, and that currency isn't available, and the government refuses to issue paper currency and allow it to be used as a substitute?
A small precedent was the widely flaunted "ban" on small electronic devices during takeoff/landing. A revolt among business travelers caused a rapid change in the rule.
When have business people as a very large collective ever been particularly outraged about the surveillance state? Nothing about the NSA's activities have been fundamentally rolled back. They won, across the board and across party lines. I'm not talking about seven executives from some corner of tech lodging a twitter protest, I mean the millions of people that make up the "businesspeople" category. They have never widely protested the surveillence moves of the last 17 years.
Americans will resist this as much as 24/7 cctv surveillence has been resisted in other developed nations such as Britain. Not at all. Most people do not view it as a threat to their liberty, they view it as an isolated intrusion that is to their security benefit.
EDIT: you edited your post after I posted. As long as you don’t make people uncomfortable on the plane, that is. Don’t take away their phones, laptops or headphones, and you can grab as many images as you want of their irises, retinas and fingerprints.
In many ways, Precheck feels like flying in the 90s. You know 24h in advance if you will be able to sail through security in < 5 minutes and can get to the airport much closer to departure.
[0]: https://universalenroll.dhs.gov/workflows?servicecode=11115V...
(Not addressing GPs argument, just that the spaghetti & meatballs one doesn't hold water.)
Having Humanist-Centric politics makes the world a better place. Humans with shitty governments, parenting and environments which are shitty typically wind up being shitty humans.
Building walls, guns, bombs, cages, cops, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes are no substitute for actually working to be better humans
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception